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Realized I was planting flowers way too deep for two years
I was out back last week digging up some dead petunias from a raised bed I put in last spring, and the soil line on the roots was like two inches below where they should have been. My neighbor came over and pointed out that I'd been burying the whole root ball instead of just covering the roots, and that's why everything kept rotting. I guess I figured deeper roots meant stronger plants, but turns out I was basically drowning them. Has anyone else made this dumb mistake or have another planting tip I'm missing?
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the_susan16d ago
Right, 'cause who needs oxygen when you can just smother the poor things to death? Sounds like you were running a tiny plant graveyard back there. I did the same thing with some tomatoes last summer, buried them like I was hiding evidence of a crime. My grandmother caught me and said I was trying to grow tubers, not flowers. Your neighbor is a keeper though, mine just laughs and hands me a shovel.
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the_mary16d ago
lol "hiding evidence of a crime" is exactly what I was doing too, just shoving those poor plants six inches down like burying treasure. My neighbor walked over with a trowel and was like "what are you, a mole?" and I felt so called out. Honestly though, who comes with instructions anyway? The seed packet just says "plant this deep" and I'm like "okay but like how deep is deep enough". I'm just gonna start using that little tag on the pot as a ruler from now on, no more guessing games.
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